The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the disclosure, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Real-time monitoring of a patient or potential patient data can be crucial during times of a medical crisis. A difference of a few minutes or even seconds could mean the difference between life and death of the patient, or the difference between a brain-dead patient and a patient that is merely unconscious. As a result, a multitude of real-time monitoring sensors and systems have been developed to ensure that a patient's vitals are reported to appropriate entities in real-time.
For example, certain implantable medical devices periodically test a patient's vital stats to ensure that the current record of the patient's stats are always up to date. The medical device regularly polls the patient's stats at the same time every day. However, the system may over-test and over-report a patient's vital signs within time periods that are too short, wasting log space and possibly shortening the lifespan (i.e., loss of battery life) of the device by performing too many tests within an unnecessarily short period.
In another example, a monitoring sensor is implanted in the toilet of the patient. Whenever the patient urinates, the sensor tests the patient's urine to report the patient's vital information. Such a system, however, depends upon the patient's waste management schedule. If the patient doesn't need to eliminate waste, or uses a different toilet, extended periods of time may occur between testing cycles, making the reporting data unreliable.
In yet another example, a sensor system detects when a sensor is unable to report information, and during that interlude reports an estimated sensor value extrapolated from past sensor trend data. The estimated sensor value, however, may not be entirely accurate and violates the concept of real-time monitoring, since some vital information is not easily predicted using trends, especially during times of a medical emergency.
In yet another example, a sensor is embedded within a probe delivery device, ensuring that sensor data is created virtually as the probes are collected from the patient's body. Not all sensors, however, can be integrated into a patient's body to ensure that data is gathered so rapidly. Some sensors will inevitably have long periods of time in between collection periods.
In yet another example, a system collects sensor data at a rapid rate, ensuring that all data is at most 10 minutes old, and at times ensuring that all data is at most 0.1 seconds old. Again, some sensors may not be able to be configured to collect data at 0.1 second intervals, and there are some vital signs that don't need to be checked so often.
In yet another example, a real-time system monitors a patient in radiation therapy. The system refreshes the data collection in real-time (e.g., a time period that is not humanly discernible). Even if data collection is humanly discernible, however, some data need not be tested so many times in a row. Some vital signs could be tested every 0.1 second, while other vital stats could be checked every day or so.
Thus, there is still a need for systems and methods that ensure real-time data collection, which medical professionals could use to dictate when data is collected rapidly enough to be considered real-time for targeted intents or purposes.
All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.